1. Field of the Disclosure
Aspects of the present disclosure relate to the capture and processing of knowledge and source materials and their subsequent inclusion in narratives, and, more particularly, to methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for collaboratively capturing and processing knowledge and source materials and drafting narratives based thereon.
2. Description of Related Art
The investigative process in its broadest sense in any given context (e.g., legal, audit, forensic, security, research, media, etc) has remained substantially static for a number of years. Typically the investigative process starts after the occurrence of an event such as an incident, a complaint, or the creation of a hypothesis or theory to be tested. Then, the investigative process proceeds iteratively with research, data capture, analysis, and the forming of conclusions. Ultimately a work product such as an oral or written report is produced.
Up to the present time, the investigative process has remained largely unchanged. However, relatively new issues, such as the impact of technology, may negatively affect the efficacy of the traditional investigative process. For example, the volume, types, and forms of data now involved in investigative matters have increased significantly over the last few years. Investigative matters now routinely involve research and processing of electronic data including documents, audio, video, internet pages, etc. and in recent times social media has added significantly to the data pool for consideration in an investigation.
Furthermore, the complexity of investigative matters has increased. For example, investigative matters such as fraud may relate to issues concerning complex financial instruments, and could involve entities and investigators around the world. Consequently, the number of people involved in such an investigation, and the skill sets and language requirements thereof have also increased, and in addition, with people changing jobs more often, staff turnover also plays a part in increasing the number of investigators involved in investigative matters. As a result of these and other factors, the duration of investigative matters has increased, and even relatively straightforward legal cases now may span several years or more.
Accordingly, in light of the above-mentioned adverse factors, investigative matters are presently experiencing numerous challenges that hinder the effectiveness of the traditional investigative process, and in particular impact the ability of the investigating entity to maintain the collective investigators' memory over the course of the investigative matter. Further, the ability of the investigating entity to rapidly produce a status report or other output describing the current status of an investigative matter at any point during the investigation is also hindered by the above-mentioned adverse factors. Accordingly, the traditional investigative process now suffers from numerous deficiencies.